Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Does anyone else mentally put away $50-200 as extortion money when traveling to countries with potentially corrupt government officials?

No. Whilst it is a possibility in some parts of the world it isn't generally likely and not something I'd worry about.

Corrupt officials are generally not interested in what they view as wealthy foreigners who might complain to their local Embassy. They will generally treat you "by the book" even if bribery is the norm among the local citizenry. There are exceptions in lawless places. Don't go to lawless places unless you are accompanied by a local at a minimum.

That being said, I always try to carry some cash. But more for convenience than worry.

Dragline wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 23, 2017 7:03 pm

Corrupt officials are generally not interested in what they view as wealthy foreigners who might complain to their local Embassy.

Really? I guess it depends on what you call lawless. Certainly never had trouble with police in London, but I've been extorted in Russia and China by low level government people.

Hmm -- it may be that most of my travel to such places has been for business purposes and so I am dressed in such a way that I look like I might have friends in high places.

By lawless I was thinking more about war zones and some of the African countries where governments are either oppressive or lacking control.

Wait...I think I'm getting extortion mixed up with soliciting a bribe.

I've had friends in Mexico get traffic tickets. They were given the choice of being hauled off to the jail or paying the fine on the spot. That was extortion.

My experiences were primarily people not letting me do something that I needed to do and being oddly difficult up to the point I figured out they wanted some money to let me carry on. Corrupt gatekeepers so to speak. Nobody said they were going to hurt me or held me captive. They just said I couldn't do or have what'd traveled there to do...and I'm so damn dense it was an awkward back and forth before I realized I just had to slip them some cash or nothing was going to happen.

Awkward. They won't let you pass but they don't want you to just give up and walk off. Reminds me of dating.

Sclass wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:10 pm

I've had friends in Mexico get traffic tickets. They were given the choice of being hauled off to the jail or paying the fine on the spot. That was extortion.

Ha, I've had a similar experience in US. Pay cash/check at the roadside setup or get a bill in the mail and points on my license as a bonus.

jennypenny wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:31 pm

Sclass wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:10 pm

I've had friends in Mexico get traffic tickets. They were given the choice of being hauled off to the jail or paying the fine on the spot. That was extortion.

Ha, I've had a similar experience in US. Pay cash/check at the roadside setup or get a bill in the mail and points on my license as a bonus.

Really? Can you explain the context?

Driving on 95 (not in podunk either) ... stopped by state troopers in a speed trap (with tons of other people ). They wrote the ticket, and then you could pay it at the conveniently located 'station' in the adjacent rest area. If you didn't do it then (I think he said within 24 hours), they "submitted" the ticket and it would have to be paid in full (I forget how much more it would be) and points would be issued. I have no idea if he was BS-ing me but it wasn't worth finding out. He seemed serious and everyone was lined up to pay at the rest stop.

Augustus wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:52 pm

... only leave by taxi ... I'd say you have very little chance of trouble.

Taxi scams are by far the most common scams. Uber may allow you to bypass the scams. Given the prevalence of scams I try to avoid taxis as much as possible.

jennypenny wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:28 pm

Driving on 95 (not in podunk either) ... stopped by state troopers in a speed trap (with tons of other people ). They wrote the ticket, and then you could pay it at the conveniently located 'station' in the adjacent rest area. If you didn't do it then (I think he said within 24 hours), they "submitted" the ticket and it would have to be paid in full (I forget how much more it would be) and points would be issued. I have no idea if he was BS-ing me but it wasn't worth finding out. He seemed serious and everyone was lined up to pay at the rest stop.

That happened once to my dad in Chicago (once in 62 years w/a driver's license), but he was rushing my mom who was in labor with my sister to the hospital. In that case you could pay the cop directly to avoid the "inconvenience" But my dad had no money on him since he didn't think to bring mom's purse along with them. So the guy wrote him a ticket and sent him on his way.

For the most part, though, that's rare here in the US.

Not having a lot of wanderlust to quench I don't travel to places that are known foster a culture of corruption (except Illinois, but it's a different kind of corruption there); however, I always carry a pretty good wad of cash with me when I travel (don't carry in wallet) for emergencies. So I suppose that could include a bribe (or extortion or blackmail) if necessary.

@Dragline
I always expected nicer outfits to be more of a target. Were you going full on polished suit everywhere you went? Maybe you present yourself in a regal manner..

@JennyPenny
I wasn't expecting this to happen in USA. Thanks for the insight that this isn't strictly an expat problem.

@Sclass
It happened in Mexico to my group once. Some police officers were going to take our driver's license until the court date next week (we were on our way to the border and they knew this)....unless we paid the $40 fine now. Corrupt gatekeeper rather than actually harmful.

Taxis (unless called by phone or hotel) or low level government officials are where I'm mostly expecting this.

jennypenny wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:28 pm

Driving on 95 (not in podunk either) ... stopped by state troopers in a speed trap (with tons of other people ). They wrote the ticket, and then you could pay it at the conveniently located 'station' in the adjacent rest area. If you didn't do it then (I think he said within 24 hours), they "submitted" the ticket and it would have to be paid in full (I forget how much more it would be) and points would be issued. I have no idea if he was BS-ing me but it wasn't worth finding out. He seemed serious and everyone was lined up to pay at the rest stop.

That reminds me of the stoplight cameras in St. Louis that were merely a money-makinng tool. I got a ticket in the mail for running a red light with a $100 fine (I didn't come to a complete stop when making a right on red... ugh..)

There was a case in a pretty high court against the city about the use of these cameras and how they were issuing fines. Them not issuing any points was an important part of the argument. The city lost and had to pay back everyone who got the tickets after a certain date. So I got eventually a check in the mail from the city for $100 and it made my day.

We were on a surf trip so we had some suv/van loaded with surf and cook gear. A taxi wouldn't have been possible.

I may experience bias from my experiences so your experience might be more representative. In my experience, taxis are often the ones who do the extorting. In Chicago, I've had taxis charge ridiculous fees for a ride from the airport when they realized the hotel we stayed at. Always watch the meter, walk right out if I feel unsafe with them or they act hostile in any way. I've had some psycho taxis in Turkey but no extorting happened there since I walked out within 10 seconds of the ride beginning. I've heard that calling taxis by hotel is very safe but I haven't actually done this.